Miranda Arana and Steve Vanlandingham, as Arabesque, have been mesmerizing audiences since 2003 with their lively blend of Celtic, Arabic, Judeo-Spanish, Turkish and other world folk traditions. Creating spontaneous and heartfelt expressions through the blending of musical forms and styles, they have performed across Oklahoma as members of the Oklahoma Arts Council Touring Artist Program, at fairs, festivals, schools, universities and private functions.
A graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma's celebrated Jazz Studies program, Mitch Bell discovered his love for the guitar at the age of ten. In the years since, he has performed and recorded as a jazz, funk, and rock guitarist. Mitch established himself as a highly sought after studio guitarist and has come into his own as a young emerging jazz musician.
As a leader, Mitch has recorded one album, Live at The Jazz Lab (2004) with the Mitch Bell Trio. Mitch's composing combines a great respect for the century-long jazz tradition with explorations into the rhythmic, harmonic, and melodic realms of contemporary forms. The Mitch Bell Group, in its various figures, has performed at many jazz festivals across Oklahoma and Kansas, and performs regularly at a variety of venues in Oklahoma City.
Theresa-Ann Walther will be the featured poet at the Performing Arts Studio Second Sunday Poetry Reading. The free reading on September 9, begins at 2:00 in the Norman Depot, 200 South Jones Avenue.
Walther grew up in the “idyllic little town of Kilbride, Newfoundland, Canada” a place she still calls home, even though she moved to Oklahoma City when she was seventeen. As a young girl she was inspired by a fourth grade English teacher to write her first story and was “hooked” on words and images from that point on. A “love for writing and literature guaranteed that I would grow up to be an English teacher” she says. She is a Professor of English at Rose State College. It is a vocation she loves. Her motto in life, she says, is “All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.”
Kevin Welch grew up in Oklahoma where he played in the popular regional band Blue Rose Cafe. He moved to Nashville in the late 1970’s and became a songwriter for Tree International. His songs were recorded by numerous top artists including Waylon Jennings, Roger Miller, The Judds, Reba McIntire, Charlie Pride, Randy Travis, Conway Twitty and Trisha Yearwood. Welch also developed a highly successful solo career.
Take the considerable talent of Kevin Welch, add the distinct songwriting flavor of Kieran Kane and refreshingly unscripted instrumentation with Fats Kaplin’s playing of multiple instruments, unite it all with the fluid, rhythmic pulse of Lucas Kane’s spare drumming, and you have the unique sound of Kane, Welch & Kaplin.
The band recorded You Can’t Save Everybody in 2004 and Lost James Dean in 2006 (which resulted in a nomination for duo/group of the year by the Americana Music Association.) Drummer Lucas Kane joined on the latest release, Kane, Welch & Kaplin (to be released September 11, 2007) and the groove and intimacy found in the earlier releases continued.
The album title, Kane Welch & Kaplin is an assertion of band cohesion says Welch. “We want people to finally understand that we are a band, not just three solo artists playing for the hell if it.”
The Performing Arts Studio presents a Pizza Platter Pottery Show featuring the work of Daniel Harris, MFA. The exhibit opens in the Norman Depot, 200 South Jones, with a reception from 2:00 to 4:00 on Sunday, August 5. Refreshments will be served and music will entertain. The Pizza Platter Pottery Show continues through September 30.
The pottery on display will include miniature ceramic pots, just a few inches tall. Harris indicates he has made “several suitcases full” and plans to make many more. “Miniatures take as much time as the full sized version, but I really enjoy making them.” he says, “I’ve been making them since 1979, but have gotten more focused on them recently.” Some oversized pots will be included in the exhibit also.
Full sized “pizza platters,” which are the real thing -- pizza baked, dried and varnished -- will surprise and delight! Harris was working in a bakery in 1980 making pizza, and in the same time period, making pots of traditional clay. He really enjoyed the feel of both the clay and the dough and, always ready to get creative with a new medium, it was then he made his first pizza platters.
